9th suspect charged in videotaped sexual assaults of 3 teens

A ninth man has been charged with taking part in the videotaped sexual assaults of two teenage sisters and another 16-year-old in a moving van on the West Side.

Michael McChriston, 20, was ordered held in lieu of $500,000 bail Wednesday for the Oct. 19 attack, the Sun-Times is reporting.

The rapes were videotaped on a cellphone camera, authorities said.

McChriston, who is also known as Michael Washington, also was identified in a photo array by two of the victims, Assistant State's Attorney Kingsley Sawyers said. McChriston lives in the 5700 block of West Race and was arrested in Maywood on Tuesday.

On the night of the sexual assaults, the victims had been walking in the 700 block of North Parkside when they were approached by two young men who had been driving around with others in the van, prosecutors said. The girls agreed to get in the van, and two of the girls, both 16, drank the alcohol and smoked the marijuana they were offered by the group of males inside the vehicle, prosecutors said.

The younger girl, 15, did not drink or take drugs.

All three girls were assaulted, and one of the two sisters was raped by Johnson, Durham, Stevens and McChriston, prosecutors said. They said that girl, who was extremely intoxicated and couldn't hold her head up, was crying and had tears streaming down her face during the attacks.

When the 15-year-old started to scream and pound on the walls of the van, Robinson allegedly held her down while another punched her, then continued to hold her while his accomplice raped her, prosecutors said.

The attackers eventually threw the 15-year-old out of the van because she was making too much noise, and as she was being dragged out, she grabbed one of the other victims with her, prosecutors said.

The other girl remained inside the van, and the young men ended up driving her to Durham's home, where she was raped again, prosecutors said.

Witnesses who saw the screaming 15-year-old eventually led police to Durham's home, where the last victim was found in the basement, prosecutors said. They said her blood-alcohol level was .237 percent.